Iron and tube making



Feb. 12., 1924. 1,483,451

E. F. KENN EY mou AND TUBE MAKING Filed July 11 1923 INVENTOR Ward Kenne BY c mf k fmg to roll such bloom in the. direction of its Patented Feb. 12, 1924.

entree STATES EDWARD F. KENNEY, OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.

IRON 5AND TUBE MAKING. I i i Application filed July 11, 1923. Serial No. 650,776; A

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD F. KENNEY, a citizen of the United 'States, and a resident of the city of Bethlehem, county of Northampton, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements infIron and'Tube' Making; and I do hereby .declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of'the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertainsito 'make and use the same.

My invention relates to making wrought iron in the form of plates, bars or other sections, which wrought iron is first preferably rolled or hammered from a ball or loup which maybe produced in a'knobbling A fire, in a forge, bypuddling or otherwise,

thus 'first forming a rough bloomfrom the conglomerated particles of iron 'whichparticlesare surrounded with oxides or scale, etc., as is usual in such products.

After the bloomis formed as above indicated thisis then rolled laterally or in the direction of its width or, thickness to form a plate. It has heretofore been'the practice length, but by rolling it laterally according to. my method a plate is produced which-is afterwards cross-sheared into sections, each of which maybe of 'any 'predetermlned width, and then these sections are piled, on top of each other to produce a pile of any desired size after whichthe pile is heated to welding temperature and passed through rolls in the direction of its longitudinal axis to thereby produce a plate or. so-called skelp from which latter, wrought iron tubes may be formed. The iron is therefore expanded or rolled in two directions substantially at right angles to each other thereby forming a plate which is equally strong in all directions thus obviating the defects of iron produced by previous methods which on account of workingmainly in one direction is weak longitudinally and cannot withstand the tests prescribed therefor.

Having thus given a gereral description of my invention I will now, in order to make the matter more clear refer to the annexed sheet of drawings ,which forms part of this specification, and in which "like characters'refer to like parts.

or loup of wrought iron which may be made dicated as 13.

in any manner. Figure2 is aperspective View of a bloom which may be "hammered, rolled or otherwise produced therefrom wihle in a heated condition. Figure3 isa part of a plate of wrought iron which is rolled from the bloom of Figure 2, the direction of rolling being done in the direction indicated as A on the drawings. Figure 4 is a'perspective view of a pile formed of sections of'plates cut from :the plate of Figure? Figure 5 is a perspective view of a plate or s'kelp rolledlongitudinally from the pile of Figured. Figure .6 are cross-sections of the plate of Figure 5 which is provided with bevelled or 'scarfed edges, and a similar plate with substantially rectangular edges as shown. a perspective view of oneofi the plates of Figure 5 or 6 whichisbent as shownprior to weldinginto a tubeand Figure 8 is a perspective View of a-finishe'd' tube which may be welded and formed from the bent plate of Figure 7-by any "of the; usual methods of tube making.

Referringnow to the characters of-reference on the drawings Figure 7 is 1, is ,a ball or-loup of wrought iron. 'Qis 'a bloom hammered or rolledtherefrom. 3 I is the plate which is produced from'the bloom 2 by rollingin a rolling mill in the direction A- asindicated by the arrows, and after thisplate isrolled it is sheared into pieces 4, by cutting itonthe lines 5. After. this is done, anydesired numberof pieces l are'superimposed on each other as indicated in Figure 4, to produce the pile6 and after the pileisthus forme'ditis heated to welding heat and-rolled preferably in grooved rolls in arolling mill" into the skelp or plate 7 and then this skelp" is cut into lengths 8,.suitable for making tubes, these cross-cuts being indicated as. This skelp 7 may 'berolledwith bevelled edges 10, or another-form of skelp or barll may be rolled with substantially rectangular edges. I

' After the skelp is rolled and. cut as above described it is bent in any suitable: manner,

the bevelled edges thereof being indicated as at 12, this bent skelp being generally in welded in welding rolls or otherwise to'form finished tube 14. V a

A loup or ball of'knobbled charcoal or wrought iron consists ofagplurality of. oo-

After this is 7 done 1 it isagain heated to a weldingheat and the edgesare hering granules of iron and between or around them are layers of slagor cinders, and oxides, and in accordance with previous practice, the bloomis hammered therefrom and elongated in one direction producing elementary fibers in the metal and also elementary fibers of slag or cinder, or oxides between the fibers of metal which are fur ther and greatly. elongated by successive longitudinal rollings producing lateral discontinuities or breaks in the metal, as the fibers thereof are separated by fibers of the occlusions, so that skelp so made while strong longitudinally is weak laterally, thus resembling a rope of wires and when suchskelp is formed into a tube it will not stand the circumferential tests applied to it nor the actual tests of the various uses to which it will be subjected.

scribed. myinvention in connection with making boiler tubes 1 wish it to be understood that it also relates to making wrought iron bars, plates and other shapes by successive rollings in different directions, the bars being cut'between the rollings andplaced together to form piles which are heated preparatory to rolling, the'last rolling beingv preferably in a direction longitudinal of the lastipile. The side edges of the pile which, after rolling intoskelp, form that portion thereof which is welded, are composed of clean solid metal sheared from the interior of the plate and because of this they have not been subjected to the oxidizing flames from the furnace and produce a cleaner and strongerweld, especially at the edge portions where this is most needed on account of the following welding of these edges to form a tube. v I

a It should be noted that the stresses which ause failure in tubes are generally circumferential and are resisted by the transverse strength of the skelp so that my proposed method of manufacture will increase the transverse strength of the skelp and therefore the resistance of the tube to the usual types of failure.

My method will also reduce the liability .of the tubes to bedamaged in the regular operation of expansion and fianging when these are placed in position in the boiler or elsewhere, as the fibers of the material are so arrangedthat such expansion can take place Without causing cracks or failure.

Although]: have shown and described my invention in considerable detail, I do not wish to be limited to the exact and specific details thereof, as shown and described, but may use such modification in, substitutions for, or equivalents thereof as are embraced within thescope of my invention, or as pointed out in the claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: i

1'. The method of making wrought iron which consists in first forming a heated ball thereof, then compressing the same laterally while extending it longitudinally, thereby forming a bloom, then reducing the crosssection of said bloom while extending it laterally thereby forming a plate, then cutting said plate transversely into sections and placing said sections together to form a pile, then heating said pile and reducing its cross-section while extending it longitudinally in a direction difierent from the first extension, thereby forming a plate or skelp.

2. The method of forming tube skelp consisting of first forming a wrought iron bloomf then rolling the same transversely, thereby forming a plate, then cutting said plate laterally into sections, then superimposing said sections on each other, thereby forming a pile, then heating the same to a welding heat and rolling a skelp longitudinally of the pile. v

The steps in the method of making tube skelp consisting of transversely rolling a, wrought iron bloom, then transversely cutting the plate formed thereby, then piling the cut sections and heating and rolling the same longitudinally to form a skelp.

4:. ThestepS in the method of making iron tubes which consists in first forming a heat-- ed loup'of wrought iron intermingled with slag and oxides, then compressing the same toa bloom, then rolling said bloom transversely thereby producing a plate, then cutting said plate transversely into sections of predeterminedwidth, then placing a number of said sections together thereby forming a pile, then heating said pile to a welding heat and rolling it in a direction longitudinally of its length, thereby forming a plateor skelp.

5, The method of forming a tube, which consistsfof heating and transversely rolling a wrought iron bloom to form a plate, then cutting said plate transversely into sections, then formlng a pile of a number of said sections placed together, then heating the pile to a welding heat and rolling it longitudinally to form a skelp, then bending said skelp with its longitudinal edges overlappmg, then heating it to welding temperature vand welding its edges together in welding rolls or otherwise.

6. The method of forming a wrought iron tube which consists in first making a heated loup of Wrought iron intermingled with slag and oxides, then compressing the same to a bloom, then rolling said bloom transversely thereby producing a plate, then cut ting said plate transversely into sections of predetermined Width, then placing a number of said sections together thereby forming a pile, then heating said pile to a w welding heat and rolling itlongitudinally of its length thereby forming a skelp, then bending said skelp with its longitudinal edges overlapping, then heating it to a Welding temperature and then welding its edges together and forming the same in welding rolls or otherwise into a tube.

In witness whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.

EDWARD F. KENNEY. 

